Shep Gordon and Alice Cooper, in an archival photo from “Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon” (RADiUS-TWC)

SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON — 3 stars

Documentary about a guy who was an agent and pal to everyone in the 1970s. (1:25) R: Language. Lincoln Square, Angelika.

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The best friend Alice Cooper ever had was Shep Gordon. After stumbling good-naturedly into being a show-business and music agent, Gordon guided Cooper toward embracing his chicken-biting antics. Same goes for celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, who prepared chicken in front of a bigger audience, thanks to Gordon.

Marcello Conte and Myles Massey in “Ping Pong Summer”

In between, we learn in this fast-moving, entertaining documentary directed with penache by Mike Myers (another Gordon client), there was Anne Murray, Groucho Marx, Luther Vandross and the Dalai Lama. Friends of Shep discuss his often unorthodox business sense, especially in the music biz, as well as his general decency. The guy's tale is full of funny anecdotes and celeb privilege, but short on pretension.

PING PONG SUMMER — 3 stars

Susan Sarandon in “Ping Pong Summer”

A kid is challenged to a table-tennis duel in 1985 Maryland. (1:32) NR. Empire 25, IFC.

This sweet, offhanded but lovingly observed remembrance is a real kick. It takes us back to the way things used to be, especially for 13-year-old guys, and specifically in the arcade rooms of 1985, filled with upright video games with glowing screens and big-haired girls in neon. Newcomer Marcello Conte is in a Maryland beach town with his mom (Lea Thompson) and family when a bully challenges him to a table-tennis battle. This is meant to impress the girl they both like (Emmi Shockley). Susan Sarandon pops up as a former ping-pong champ, and a crew of pitch-perfect character actors make director Michael Tully's movie a savvy valentine to the era of "No Retreat, No Surrender" and Mr. Mister hit singles. Here is the rare film that both celebrates an era and feels like it could have been made in it.

This sometimes-taut little thriller is sullied by its unnecessary masquerade as a documentary presented by HBO's gonzo news show "Vice." An employee (Kentucker Audley) of the TV crew goes with two co-workers (AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg) to a remote compound to find his missing sister (Amy Seimetz). There, it's revealed that a militaristic, messianic cult leader has dozens of followers enthralled — and possibly imprisoned. What follows is a Jonestown-like massacre, but the aim and the conceit distract from director Ti West's execution.